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A thicket close befide the grove there ftood With briers and brambles choak'd, and dwarfish

wood;

From thence the noise, which now approaching near,
With more distinguish'd notes invades his ear; 106
He rais'd his head, and faw a beauteous maid,
With hair difhevell'd, iffuing through the fhade,
Stripp'd of her cloaths, and ev'n those parts reveal'd,
Which modeft nature keeps from fight conceal'd.
Her face, her hands, her naked limbs were torn,
With paffing thro the brakes, and prickly thorn;
Two mastiffs gaunt and grim her flight pursued,
And oft their fasten'd fangs in blood embru❜d:
Oft they came up, and pinch'd her tender fide;
Mercy, O mercy, heav'n! fhe ran, and cry'd;
When heaven was nam'd, they loos'd their hold
again,

Then sprung fhe forth, they follow'd her amain.

Not far behind, a knight of swarthy face, High on a coal-black steed pursu'd the chace; 120 With flashing flames his ardent eyes were fill'd, And in his hand a naked fword he held: He chear'd the dogs to follow her who fled, And vow'd revenge on her devoted head.

As Theodore was born of noble kind, The brutal action rous'd his manly mind; Mov'd with unworthy ufage of the maid, He, tho unarm'd, refolv'd to give her aid.

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A faplin pine he wrench'd from out the ground,
The readiest weapon that his fury found.
Thus furnish'd for offence, he crofs'd the way
Betwixt the graceless villain and his prey.

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The knight came thund'ring on, but, from afar,
Thus, in imperious tone, forbad the war:
Ceafe, Theodore, to proffer vain relief,
Nor ftop the vengeance of fo juft a grief;
But give me leave to seize my deftin'd prey,
And let eternal justice take the way:
I but revenge my fate, difdain'd, betray'd,
And suff'ring death for this ungrateful maid. 140
He faid, at once dismounting from the fteed;
For now the hell-hounds, with fuperior speed,
Had reach'd the dame, and, faft'ning on her fide,
The ground with iffuing ftreams of purple dy'd;
Stood Theodore furpris'd in deadly fright, 145
With chatt'ring teeth, and bristling hair upright;
Yet arm'd with inborn worth, whate'er, faid he,
Thou art, who know'ft me better than I thee;
Or prove thy rightful caufe, or be defy'd;
The spectre, fiercely ftaring, thus reply'd:
Know, Theodore, thy ancestry I claim,

And Guido Cavalcanti was my name:
One common fire our fathers did beget,
My name and story some remember yet:
Thee, then a boy, within my arms I laid,
When for my fins I lov'd this haughty maid;

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Not lefs ador'd in life, nor ferv'd by me,
Than proud Honoria now is lov'd by thee.
What did I not her stubborn heart to gain?
But all my vows were answer'd with disdain :
She fcorn'd my forrows, and despis'd my pain.
Long time I dragg'd my days in fruitless care;
Then, lothing life, and plung'd in deep despair,
To finish my unhappy life, I fell

On this sharp fword, and now am damn'd in hell,

Short was her joy; for foon th' insulting maid By heav'n's decree in this cold grave was laid: And as in unrepented fin fhe dy'd,

Doom'd to the fame bad place is punish'd for her pride:

Because she deem'd I well deserv’d to die, 170 And made a merit of her cruelty.

There, then, we met; both try'd, and both were cast,

And this irrevocable fentence pass'd;

That she, whom I fo long purfu'd in vain,

Should fuffer from my hands a lingʼring pain:

Renew'd to life, that she might daily die,

I daily doom'd to follow, fhe to fly;
No more a lover, but a mortal foe,
I feek her life (for love is none below):
As often as my dogs with better speed
Arreft her flight, is she to death decreed :
Then with this fatal fword, on which I dy'd,
I pierce her open back, or tender side,

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And tear that harden'd heart from out her breast, Which, with her entrails, makes my hungry hounds

a feast.

Nor lies she long, but, as the fates ordain,
Springs up to life, and fresh to second pain,
Is fav'd to-day, to-morrow to be slain.

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This, vers'd in death, th' infernal knight relates, And then for proof fulfill'd the common fates; Her heart and bowels thro her back he drew, And fed the hounds that help'd him to pursue. Stern look'd the fiend, as fruftrate of his will, Not half fuffic'd, and greedy yet to kill. And now the foul, expiring through the wound, Had left the body breathlefs on the ground, 196 When thus the grifly spectre spoke again: Behold the fruit of ill-rewarded pain: As many months as I fuftain'd her hate, So many years is she condemn'd by fate To daily death; and ev'ry several place, Conscious of her disdain and my disgrace, Muft witness her juft punishment; and be A scene of triumph and revenge to me! As in this grove I took my last farewel, As on this very spot of earth I fell, As Friday faw me die, fo fhe my prey Becomes ev'n here, on this revolving day.

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Thus, while he spoke, the virgin from the ground Upftarted fresh, already clos'd the wound,

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And, unconcern'd for all she felt before,

Precipitates her flight along the shore :

The hell-hounds, as ungorg'd with flesh and blood, Pursue their prey, and feek their wonted food: The fiend remounts his courfer, mends his pace; And all the vifion vanifh'd from the place. 216

Long flood the noble youth opprefs'd with awe, And stupid at the wondrous things he saw, Surpaffing common faith, tranfgreffing nature's law:

He would have been asleep, and wish'd to wake,
But dreams, he knew, no long impreffion make,
Though ftrong at firft; if vifion, to what end,
But fuch as muft his future ftate portend?
His love the damfel, and himself the fiend.
But yet, reflecting that it could not be

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From heaven, which cannot impious acts decree,
Refolv'd within himself to shun the snare,
Which hell for his destruction did prepare;
And, as his better genius fhould direct,

From an ill cause to draw a good effect.

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Inspir'd from heaven he homeward took his way, Nor pall'd his new defign with long delay: But of his train a trusty servant sent To call his friends together at his tent. They came, and, usual falutations paid, With words premeditated, thus he said: What you have often counsell'd, to remove. My vain pursuit of unregarded love;

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